I've had something stolen at the checkpoint. Now I'm very cautious.

A few months ago, it was unintentionally comic. My rollaboard was pulled for a search. It was locked. The screener asked where the key for the lock was. I said it was in my daypack, still coming through the xray. When the daypack arrived, the main compartment was also locked - and the key for the rollaboard lock was inside. The screener did let me open the daypack to get the key for the lock on the rollaboard, but that meant that my daypack was also subject to a full swab-and-search.

When he remarked on the locks, I said I'd had something stolen at the checkpoint and I was trying to reduce the opportunities for theft. I rarely travel with electronics, except for a cellphone and my little point-and-shoot, which now also has to be removed from my daypack. He asked if I'd asked TSA to check the camera footage, and then he laughed. I think we both knew that the likelihood of TSA responding to a request for immediate footage review - or even to stop someone accused of being a thief - was pretty slim and would be awfully slow.

I pull my point-and-shoot camera out, but I loop the case handle through my daypack handles and load my daypack next to the bin with the camera. So far, that's added an extra bit of inconvenience for any would-be thieves, but it probably won't work with the auto-loading bins in ATL. Haven't tried it yet.